If you’re like me, you’ve enjoyed a good fantasy series in your time.
And what’s a good fantasy series without a good villain?
Cell from Dragonball Z is one such villain.
With the ability to literally drink people right out of their clothes, absorb the DNA
information of his victims, as well as revive himself on a cellular level, Cell was the
true villain to beat.
So what would happen if scientists were able to create a creature like Cell?
Moreover, would it even be possible?
Welcome to Darkology.
In order to analyze whether it would be possible to actually create a monster like Cell, we
first need to figure out what current applications of modern science, engineering, and evolution
match Cell’s physiological traits and abilities.
Then we must explore the current state of genetic engineering and artificial creation,
and then apply that knowledge to what might actually be feasible.
But before we do all that, let’s do a quick recap of who Cell is.
Once upon a time, in another world far in the future, in an alternate timeline, mankind
had fallen to artificial intelligence.
Two impossibly powerful and ruthless androids appeared and single-handedly wiped out nearly
all life on Earth.
My friends and I were the planet’s last hope- and we failed.
These monsters showed no mercy.
The pain they caused others brought them a sick pleasure.
They slaughtered everyone like it was a game.
They didn’t even show mercy to their own creator, Dr. Gero.
He met his end not long after they were activated.
Dr. Gero might have perished, but his horrifying life work would still continue in a secret
underground bunker below his laboratory.
While Gero’s androids destroyed the world above, a super-computer loaded with the mad
scientist’s consciousness worked away tirelessly for years, programming and overseeing the
development of what he called, his “ultimate creation”.
Breaking free from an enormous cicada-shaped husk, the bio-android known as Cell was born,
composed from the DNA of the world’s strongest fighters, the likes of which included the
saiyans, namekians, and even the galactic tyrant, Frieza, as well as his father.
As a result, the monster known as Cell was able to fly, regenerate, survive in the harshest
of living conditions like the cold vacuum of space, and was biologically immortal.
Like a saiyan, he was able to become even more powerful after recovering from near-death.
Like a namek, he was extremely cunning.
And just like Frieza and the androids- he was evil.
He was a deadly predator that hunted the survivors of that world.
You see, like every organism, Cell wasn’t born fully developed- though where he might’ve
differed from you or me, was what he feeded on to grow.
Cell gained strength by absorbing the bio-extract of the living.
Through a stinger in his tail, he’d melt his victims from the inside out, and sucked
up the “people juice” until there was nothing left but a pile of clothes.
He was a monster.
No matter how much Cell “fed”, he could never be satisfied on this “diet” alone.
In order to fully mature to his “final” and complete form, Dr. Gero designed him to
specifically require the infinite energy found in the androids.
Androids 17 and 18 to be exact.
However no matter how far he searched, he could not find the androids in his own timeline.
I would later find out that my friend, Trunks, was the one responsible for that.
He’d somehow found a way to destroy the androids and bring peace back to that timeline.
I wish he’d been more careful.
But he couldn’t have known about Cell.
Cell killed Trunks in that timeline and hijacked his time machine- a vehicle that I’m convinced
has more to do with multiverse theory than time.
As fate would have it, the time machine brought Cell to my timeline, where the androids had
only just awoken and everyone was still alive.
My world was completely untouched by the androids’ destruction and thus Cell suddenly found himself
with an entire planet to prey on.
He devoured entire cities of people and eventually found the androids, evolving to his complete
and terrifyingly powerful form.
He would’ve destroyed the planet if it hadn’t been for my father’s sacrifice.
No- even then, that wasn’t enough.
It took everything I had and the help of my friends to finally put that monster down for
good.
If you’re hearing this- please.
Be responsible with what you do with scientific research.
Our minds are capable of making terrible things a reality.
Technology could expand beyond the limits of what we can control.
And sometimes, we can lose sight of that.
Don’t make the same mistake as Dr. Gero.
OH COME NOW.
Gohan….
Is that anyway to treat an old friend?
Oh sure, I may have done a few naughty things in the past, but this is the present…
people change…. and I think these people are genuinely curious.
Yes… that’s why you’re still here….
Isn’t it?
Well don’t let me stop you.
Ahahahahahahahasldlkasdfjdls;k!
So let’s start with absorption.
More specifically, how it might work in real life.
Let’s take the example of insects that use toxic venom as a defense mechanism.
Bees and wasps are perfect.
An enzyme called phospholipase A, which makes up about 10-12% of bee venom destroys phospholipids
and also breaks down the membranes of blood cells, resulting in cell destruction and if
that wasn’t enough, causes the release of pain-inducing agents.
During his first confrontation with Piccolo, acid dripped from his stinger, indicating
that absorption happens by injecting a digestive enzyme into the victim and absorbing the dissolving
genetic extract.
In bees, the enzyme, hyaluronidase, aids the spread of venom by catalysing the breakdown
of protein-polysaccharide complexes in tissue, allowing it to penetrate further into flesh.
Basically, it turns organic filler matter into water that is then typically absorbed
back into the host’s body, though in the case of a creature like Cell, would be absorbed
by the predator for consumption via a stinger.
Speaking of creatures that drink their prey, tarantulas consume their food by injecting
it with an enzyme that starts to break it down into a liquid, which is then slurped
up, eliminating the necessity for chewing.
The tarantula’s stomach is wrapped in strong muscles which allow it to expand and contract,
working like a pump.
It sucks up liquified food like a vacuum, and as the spider consumes more and more,
it expands to accommodate the liquid.
While we’re on the subject of absorption, it might be valid to address the debate of
whether or not Cell gains the genetic information from the victims he has absorbed.
See, the acidic venom of bees effectively kills cells, and spiders, well, they only
drink melted biomatter as an energy source- however there does exist a species of microscopic
organisms that do steal the DNA of other organisms to survive.
Referred to as “ancient asexuals” bdelloid rotifers are entirely female and in order
to reproduce, must hijack the DNA of other species for their own benefit.
This bizarre species has been known to steal genetic information from fungi, plants, and
bacteria.
It is believed that the introduction of foreign genes caused by this process is what has allowed
bdelloids to survive for so long without sexual reproduction.
They basically sap all the best powers from others and use them for their own benefit.
Were this trait to be introduced into a hybrid organism, it’s not too farfetched to say
that this ability could evolve.
Bdelloids are also able to survive environmental stresses by entering a state of dormancy known
as anhydrobiosis which enables the organism to rapidly dehydrate and thus resist desiccation.
When these creatures recover from desiccation, it has been shown that they undergo potentially
unique genetic process where horizontal gene transfer occurs- this is the process by which
they steal genetic information, resulting in up to 10% of the bdelloid genome to be
obtained through a horizontal gene transfer.
We’ve already figured out that spiders have similar dietary patterns to Cell, but that’s
not all.
Spiders can also regenerate.
That’s right.
They are able to regrow their missing legs.
Natural selection has seen to it to grant several specific species with this interesting
ability.
Lizards are able to grow new tails- though it takes 9 months.
Planarians are flatworms that if cut into pieces, will have each piece can grow into
a new worm.
The same goes for sea cucumbers.
Starfish that lose arms can grow new ones and in some cases, an entire animal can grow
from a single lost arm.
Oh and Cell may be related to sharks as well as they can regrow lost teeth.
Perhaps the most interesting of specimens, the Mexican axolotl is capable of regenerating
a missing limb, tail, and parts of its brain, heart, and lower jaw.
According to James Monaghan, a biologist from Boston’s Northeastern University, if they’re
paralyzed in the back, they can make all new neurons and new connections that allow them
to use their legs again.
Some of the animals in this list can effectively clone themselves via this regeneration method.
And wouldn’t you know it, that ties in well with our next ability...
In addition to regenerative powers, sea sponges also have a specific method for cloning themselves-
it’s called gemmulation.
This starts with the formation of gemmules, groups of cells that are enclosed in a protective
casing.
When each gemmule is provided with a food supply, it is moved to the surface of the
sponge and ejected from the adult, after which point it will mature into a new sponge.
Perhaps less complicated, the aphid species has been well-known to asexually reproduce
at a rapid rate.
A mother aphid is capable of birthing up to 12 immature clones of herself in a single
day.
Sound familiar?
Other animals capable of this feat include jellyfish, marbled crayfish, boa constrictors,
whiptail lizards, gail wasps, komodo dragons, and hammerhead sharks.
In addition to bdelloids, lobsters stand out as possessing traits similar to Cell. They
do not suffer through old age like we do.
As they keep growing in years, they don’t lose function or get slower- they actually
get bigger and more powerful.
When they grow so big that their shells can no longer contain them, they simply shed it
and grow a new one.
Another species that continues to grow bigger as they get older are clams, and while there
are gargantuan clams which have been determined to be over 400 years old, they’re not even
the most impressive.
Glass sea sponges are the oldest living animals on the planet and are estimated to live up
to 15,000 years.
So now that we’ve identified some key traits of Cell that actually exist across a variety
of species in our world, the time has come to challenge whether it would actually be
possible for scientists to engineer a genetic cocktail that could develop into a new super
organism.
Genetic engineering is the process of manually adding new DNA to an organism.
The goal being to add new traits that aren’t normally found in that organism.
Hybrid organisms have mostly been created in fiction and only recently have scientists
began to conduct actual experiments in modern research.
Genetic engineering is a fairly new practice seen in practical research and this is widely
due to legal and moral limitations.
Bioethicists are concerned with the ethical questions that arise in the relationships
among life sciences, biotechnology, medicine, politics, law, and philosophy.
However we have already see a lot of genetic alteration and hybridization in the foods
we eat.
For example in 2013, it was recorded that about 85% of corn grown in the US had been
genetically modified.
In 2003, Chinese scientists at the Shanghai Second Medical University managed to successfully
fuse human cells with rabbit eggs.
The embryos formed were reportedly the first stable human-animal chimeras in existence.
While laws against the creation of hybrid beings have been proposed in U.S. states and
in the U.S. Congress, scientists have argued that legal barriers might go too far and prohibit
medically beneficial studies into human modification.
Debates and controversies surrounding human-animal hybrid research parallels that of stem-cell
research.
So let’s just say for the sake of hypothetical reasoning, that there are no ethical boundaries.
Imagine a reality in which stem cell research and the mixing of species and genes was encouraged
and celebrated in modern science.
Let’s say our base organism is a human and we want to introduce the trait of regeneration.
How would it work?
Genetic engineering, also called transformation, works by physically removing a gene from one
organism and inserting it into another, giving it the ability to express the trait encoded
by that gene.
That is to say that by doing so, the hybrid organism has the potential to now access that
trait.
Think of it like taking a recipe out of a cookbook and transferring it into a new cookbook-
you don’t necessarily need to use it in the new cookbook, but it’s there in case
the need arises.
It’s a long process that involves finding an organism that naturally contains the desired
trait, in this case regeneration.
The DNA would be extracted from that organism and the desired gene would need to be located
and copied from thousands of genes that were extracted.
The gene may be modified slightly to work in a more desirable way once inside the recipient
organism.
This new gene is called a transgene, and is delivered into the cells of the recipient
organism either via a delivery bacteria, or by shooting microscopic particles coated with
copies of the transgene into cells in a process called the gene gun method.
Either way, genetic engineers have no control over where or if the transgene inserts into
the genome and as a result, it takes hundreds of attempts simply to achieve even a single
transgenic organism.
However, once a transgenic organism has been created, scientists take a seat back and allow
nature and traditional breeding to improve and perfect the characteristics of the final
product.
So obviously this would take a verrrry long time.
However the question was whether it would be possible.
Over a long series of genetic engineering trials, each meant to introduce a new trait
to the hybrid creature- it stands to reason that eventually we might see the birthing
of a creature similar to Cell.
It would probably take hundreds if not thousands of years to get the recipe right and of course
countless tortured living experiments along the way- but all in the name of science right?
And even if it is possible, there’s no way we can accurately predict that these variable
genetic characteristics wouldn’t clash with one another.
Would the trait of biological immortality seen in jellyfish be made obsolete by an ability
to regenerate?
At the end of the day, the process of creating a creature like Dragonball Z’s Cell requires
a maximum effort by science and even then, would still require a lucky nudge of evolution
from nature to get the recipe just right.
And though it is doubtful we’d ever live to see the birth of a creature exactly like
Cell, we might come pretty close.
In a world of infinite time and space, everything is possible.
But the question is IF it would be possible- and
the short answer, is yes.